Principal Engineer

About the role

The Principal Engineer is a senior individual contributor role within the PetDesk CarePath organization, reporting directly to the Chief of Staff / CarePath Partnership Lead. This position provides technical leadership for the CarePath Loyalty product initiative, partnering closely with Engineering, Product, Operations, and business stakeholders — including third-party drug manufacturers, corporate clinic groups, and individual veterinary clinics — to shape the architecture, scalability, and long-term technical strategy of a rapidly growing platform.

This role requires balancing strategic thinking with pragmatic execution — helping teams solve complex challenges while maintaining a strong focus on quality, performance, on-time delivery, and long-term maintainability. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable operating at a systems architecture level and rolling up their sleeves to move a critical initiative forward. They bring a builder's mindset, a bias toward action, and the interpersonal skills to work effectively across internal teams and external stakeholders alike.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience, with at least 3 years operating at a Staff or Principal Engineer level or equivalent technical leadership capacity
• Deep expertise designing and operating distributed systems, integration platforms, APIs, and data-intensive applications at scale
• Demonstrated experience building and supporting complex third-party integrations, preferably within healthcare, veterinary technology, fintech, SaaS, or similarly interconnected ecosystems
• Strong understanding of system architecture, event-driven design, data modeling, and modern cloud-native application development
• Proven project management experience — ability to plan, track, and drive complex technical initiatives across multiple teams and stakeholders without formal PM authority or certification required
• Proven operational awareness — experience identifying inefficiencies in technical workflows or business processes and working cross-functionally to implement meaningful improvements
• Experience serving as a technical point of contact for external customers, partners, or vendors — including the ability to communicate clearly and build trust with non-technical stakeholders such as clinic operators, corporate group contacts, or pharmaceutical manufacturer partners
• Proven ability to influence technical direction across multiple teams and drive alignment without formal authority
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business impact for both technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience evaluating architectural tradeoffs and making pragmatic decisions that balance short-term business needs with long-term scalability
• Strong proficiency in modern programming languages and cloud platforms, with the ability to contribute hands-on when needed

Qualifications

• Exceptional problem-solving skills and a bias toward action
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Passion for building innovative solutions that directly impact veterinary practices and pet owners
• Experience with healthcare, veterinary technology, fintech, SaaS, or similarly interconnected ecosystems

Skills

• System architecture
• Integration platforms
• APIs
• Data modeling
• Modern cloud-native application development
• Project management
• Operational awareness
• Technical communication
• Evaluating architectural tradeoffs
• Programming languages
• Cloud platforms

Benefits

• Competitive compensation package
• Flexible work schedule
• Professional development opportunities
• Health and wellness benefits
• Work-life balance

Pay

Compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience.

Schedule

Full-time position available.